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DES MOINES, Iowa -- No one will ever accuse Rick Perry of being inauthentic.

And what one leading Republican presidential contender lacks, the other has in spades. Although Mitt Romney's supposed lack of authenticity might seem to threaten his presidential bid with some voters, it's unclear whether Perry’s abundance of it will do him more harm than good in the long run.

When the Texan stepped onto his shiny new national campaign bus Monday after spending nearly five hours walking through the Iowa State Fair and taking questions, he turned and waved to the reporters he had spent hours appeasing with his answers and said, “I’ll see you again. I promise y’all.”

But by Tuesday morning he had softened his tone and started speaking at a lower decibel. The hours of unfettered access with nonstop questions were over. It may have been one of the most predictable turnabouts in politics.

Perry, who has been governor of Texas for more than a decade, burst onto Iowa’s Republican caucus scene late Sunday afternoon in Waterloo. He won the day by pulling off a startlingly smooth debut at the Black Hawk County GOP’s Lincoln Day Dinner and winning converts in rival Michele Bachmann’s hometown, even as she had just come off a major victory the previous day at the Ames Straw Poll.

He was loud. He was confident. He was exciting.

Article after article by writers not from Texas often refer to Perry as “swashbuckling” (an adjective usually assigned to pirates rather than cowboys). Based on his performance Sunday night, here’s what it means in this case:

Pointing out the more than two decades it took him to propose to his wife, he joked, “It kind of goes to tell you, sometimes it takes me a while to get into something -- like this presidential race.” Cheers rose up. “But let me tell you, when I’m in, I’m in all the way,” he added, lunging forward and punching a fist in the air.

Related Story: Perry Camp Is Still Working Out the Kinks

After he finished his speech, Perry shed his suit coat and said, “If y’all will excuse me, my daughter’s cold, so I gave her my jacket, and if this shirt’s got a few wrinkles in it, it’s not my wife’s fault.”

Feeling good about his performance, he suggested that the audience engage with him in a question-and-answer session.

He said he wanted every man and woman in the military to respect the president. He told them that despite what they may have read about immigration measures he had seen through in Texas, he was for border security -- and only border security -- first. And he called out by name former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, a rival for the GOP nomination, for their disagreement over the 10th Amendment. And he told an audience member about what his book, “Fed Up!,” says on the topic of states rights -- “Get a copy of it and read it,” he commanded.